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DECISION

Promulgating a number of spending limits applicable to programs/projects using official development Assistance (ODA) capital sources

THE MINISTER OF FINANCE

Pursuant to the Government's Decree No. 86/2002/ND-CP of November 4, 2002, defining the functions, tasks, powers and organizational structures of ministries and ministerial-level agencies;

Pursuant to the Government's Decree No. 60/2003/ND-CP of June 6, 2003, detailing and guiding the implementation of the Law on State Budget;

Pursuant to the Government's Decree No. 77/2003/ND-CP of July 1, 2003, defining the functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of the Ministry of Finance;

Pursuant to the Government's Decree No. 17/2001/ND-CP of May 4, 2001, promulgating the Regulation on management and use of official development assistance sources;

At the proposal of the director of the External Finance Department,

DECIDES:

Article 1.- To promulgate together with this Decision the Regulation on a number of spending limits applicable to programs/projects using official development assistance (ODA) capital sources.

Article 2.- The spending limits promulgated together with this Decision are the ceiling levels. Directors of ODA program or project management units shall decide on appropriate specific spending levels applicable to their programs or projects within the limits prescribed in this Decision and the permitted budget funds for program or project management.

Article 3.- Subject to the application of this Decision are programs and projects funded with ODA loans (with spendings covered by foreign loans and domestic capital) and non-refundable ODA projects (with spendings covered by domestic capital).

Non-refundable ODA projects which are allowed to make spendings from aid capital sources shall comply with the spending limits prescribed by the donors in the aid agreements or with the spending levels agreed upon by donors' representatives, the Finance Ministry and the project-managing agencies, if the specific limits are not provided for by the donors in the aid agreements.

Article 4.- This Decision takes effect 15 days after its publication in "CONG BAO." Those provisions and guidance on limits for the same spending contents as guided in this Decision, which have been promulgated by the Finance Ministry or the managing ministries after consulting the Finance Ministry for application to several ODA projects, cease to be effective as from the effective date of this Decision.

Ministries, ministerial-level agencies, government-attached agencies, other central agencies and provincial/municipal People's Committees shall direct the implementation of, and guide their attached units and ODA-funded projects to implement, this Decision.

Minister of Finance
VU VAN NINH

REGULATION ON A NUMBER OF SPENDING LIMITS APPLICABLE TO PROGRAMS/PROJECTS USING OFFICIAL DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE (ODA) CAPITAL SOURCES

(Promulgated together with the Finance Ministry's Decision No. 61/2006/QD-BTC of November 2, 2006)

Article 1.- Salaries and program/project management allowances for cadres working in the management units of ODA programs or projects (collectively referred to as projects).

1.1. Management units of administrative and non-business ODA projects and management units of mixed ODA projects involving administrative, non-business and also capital construction activities:

1.1.1. Salaries: Salaries, allowances and contributions (health insurance premiums, social insurance premiums and trade union fees) for cadres, civil servants and employees under the payrolls of administrative and non-business agencies who are transferred to ODA project management units to take full-time or part-time jobs are paid by the transferring agencies in accordance with the State's current regulations.

When the transferring agencies do not pay salaries, allowances and contributions and it is so stated in decisions on the transfer of cadres, civil servants and employees, project management units shall pay these salaries, allowances and contributions from project management funds in accordance of the State's current regulations.

1.1.2. ODA project management allowances: Cadres, civil servants and employees under administrative or non-business payrolls who are transferred to project management units to take full-time or part-time jobs are also paid by the project management units project management allowances not exceeding their salaries or allowances currently paid by the transferring agencies, specifically:

- Cadres, civil servants and employees who are transferred to project management units to perform full-time jobs are entitled to project management allowances equal to 100% of their current salaries and allowances.

- Cadres, civil servants and employees who are assigned to take part-time jobs at project management units are entitled to project management allowances based on their working time at the projects. When they are assigned to take part-time jobs at several project management units, they are entitled to allowances at the project management unit where they work for the longest period. Agencies that have issued assignment decisions shall state in these decisions the amount of working time at each project, which serves as a basis for determination of project management allowance levels.

- Cadres, civil servants and employees working in management units of non-refundable ODA projects and enjoying allowances form foreign aid capital are not entitled to ODA project management allowances from domestic contributed capital sources under this Decision.

1.2. For management units of capital construction ODA projects: Salaries and incomes of cadres, civil servants and employees working in management units of capital construction ODA projects shall comply with the Prime Minister's Decision No. 198/1999/QD-TTg of September 30, 1999, on salaries of cadres and employees working in management units of construction investment projects. ODA project management allowances prescribed in Section 1.1.2 above are not applicable to management units of capital construction ODA projects.

Salaries and ODA project management allowances defined in Section 1.1 and salaries and incomes defined in Section 1.2 of Article 1 above are only applicable to full-time management units set up under decisions of managing agencies for execution of projects.

1.3. Officers involved in the execution of projects such as those working in project execution teams or groups at district, commune or village level are, depending on the nature of their jobs under the projects, entitled to allowances for the period of carrying out each activity under the projects in localities.

- The maximum allowance level for district-level project officers is VND 200,000/month/person.

- The maximum allowance level for commune- or village-level project officers is VND 120,000/month/person.

These allowances are included in the total cost estimate for each activity these officers are assigned to carry out.

Article 2.- Remuneration/salaries of contractual laborers of ODA project management units

2.1. On salaries

2.1.1. Contractual laborers who perform professional jobs for ODA projects (both capital construction ODA and administrative and non-business ODA) are entitled to the salaries equal to those of payroll laborers with similar training degrees, professional skills and working seniority (multiplied by an adjustment coefficient for capital construction ODA projects or plus ODA project management allowances for administrative and non-business ODA projects defined in Article 1, Section 1 above).

2.1.2. Remuneration levels for contractual laborers who perform simple jobs other than professional ones such as drivers, clerks, security guards, etc., are agreed upon on the basis of the salary table applicable to service staffs of state agencies and public non-business units, as provided for in the Government's Decree No. 204/2004/ND-CP of December 14, 2004, on the salary regime applicable to cadres, civil servants, employees and armed force units, which may be multiplied by an adjustment coefficient not exceeding 1.5 times.

2.2. Insurance regime:

Social insurance and health insurance for contractual laborers shall comply with current regulations.

Article 3.- Spending limits for translation work

3.1. Translation

3.1.1 Translation of documents from foreign languages into Vietnamese: not exceeding VND 45,000/page of 350 words.

3.1.2. Translation of documents from Vietnamese into foreign languages: not exceeding VND 50,000/page of 350 words.

3.2. Interpretation:

3.2.1. Consecutive interpretation: not exceeding VND 80,000/hour/person, equivalent to VND 640,000/person/day of 8 working hours.

3.2.2. Simultaneous interpretation: not exceeding VND 200,000/hour/person, equivalent to VND 1,600,000/person/day of 8 working hours.

The aforesaid spending limits for translation work may be applied only in necessary cases when ODA project management units need to hire translators or interpreters and do not apply to translators or interpreters who are cadres of ODA project management units.

Article 4.- Working-trip allowance regime

4.1. To apply the provisions of the Finance Ministry's Circular No. 118/2004/TT-BTC of December 8, 2004, providing for the regime of working-trip allowances and conference expenses for administrative agencies and public non-business units nationwide.

In special cases, the project directors may decide to allow the projects' officers and guests to travel by air with the projects' funding.

4.2. To allocate package funds to cover travel expenses in mountainous areas, offshore islands and border areas where means of mass transit are unavailable or where it is impossible to make invoices and vouchers, leading to a lack of grounds for determination of public automobile transport fares to calculate the levels of package allocation according to Circular No. 118/2004/TT-BTC. Directors of project management units shall decide on specific levels of package allocation between VND 50,000 and VND 100,000/person/trip (for a round trip) according to the length of roads.

Article 5.- Expenses for organization of conferences, seminars and training courses

5.1. Applicable principles:

- For projects with training activities, the spending levels for these activities shall comply with those for conferences and seminars.

Conferences and seminars may last for no more than 3 days.

Training courses may last for no more than 7 days.

- Plans on organization of conferences, seminars or training courses on the national, provincial, municipal or project scale must be approved in writing by project managing agencies or heads of project steering committees.

- Expenses for conferences, seminars and training courses stated in this Decision shall apply uniformly to review conferences, periodical evaluation conferences and orientation conferences, which must be included in the plans already approved by competent authorities.

- When organizing conferences, seminars and training courses, ODA project management units shall study and arrange appropriate venues, prepare quality contents and consider the composition and number of participants on the principle of ensuring efficiency and thrift.

- Professional training and re-training in specialized domains of each project (for example: training and re-training of teachers under educational projects, training in agricultural/forestry/irrigation techniques, field seminars, etc. under agricultural projects, training and re-training of nurses, physicians, medical workers, etc. under healthcare projects, etc) shall comply with currently prescribed spending limits for specialized training and re-training funded by the state budget.

5.2. Specific spending levels:

5.2.1. Expenses for travel and accommodation during the time of participation in conferences, seminars or training courses shall comply with the provisions of Article 4.

5.2.2. Expenses for meals and pocket money:

- For conferences, seminars and training courses organized in centrally run cities: Cadres of organizing boards, participants and lecturers are entitled to meal and pocket money allowances not exceeding VND 80,000/day/person.

- For conferences, seminars and training courses organized in remaining provinces and cities: Cadres of organizing boards, participants and lecturers are entitled to meal and pocket money allowances not exceeding VND 60,000/day/person.

Members of organizing boards, participants and lecturers who are entitled to meal and pocket money allowances according to Point 5.2.2 of this Article are not entitled to working-trip allowances defined in Article 4 of this Decision.

For all conferences, seminars and training courses organized by ODA project management units, meal and pocket money allowances for all organizing staff, participants and lecturers are paid by the organizing boards with the projects' funds. Agencies appointing participants to conferences, seminars or training courses need not pay working-trip allowances to cadres who are appointed to participate in these conferences or seminars. The organizing boards of conferences or seminars shall state in invitation letters the spending regime for conference or seminar participants. In special cases where the organizing boards do not pay for meals and provide pocket money to participants, they shall state that in invitation letters.

5.2.3. Expenses for hiring trainers:

For conferences, seminars and training courses for which trainers must be hired, the spending limits for hiring trainers shall comply with regulations on expenses for hiring lecturers prescribed in the Finance Ministry's Circular No. 79/2005/TT-BTC of September 15, 2005, guiding the management and use of funds for training and re-training of state officials and civil servants.

The aforesaid ceiling levels include remuneration for training and compilation of training materials.

In special cases where training or reference materials are highly specialized which require extensive experience and knowledge, project management units may separately calculate and pay remuneration for the preparation of materials in the form of job-based contracts, covering printing expenses.

5.2.4. Stationery: Organizing boards may make payment according to actual expenses, which, however, must not exceed VND 50,000/person/course, for conferences, seminars or training courses organized in centrally run cities, or VND 30,000/person/course, for those organized in other localities.

5.2.5. Drinks: Organizing boards may make payment according to actual expenses, which, however, must not exceed VND 15,000/person/day, for conferences, seminars or training courses organized in centrally run cities, or VND 10,000/person/day, for those organized in other localities.

5.2.6. Other expenses such as expenses for renting meeting venues, hiring equipment or decoration included in the spending regime for conferences and seminars are paid thriftily and rationally according to actually arisen amounts under decisions of directors of project management units.

Article 6.- Expenses for domestic consultants

Domestic consultants shall be selected through bidding in accordance with current regulations on bidding. When it is impossible to select appropriate consultants through bidding, depending on the projects' requirements, professional qualifications, academic titles, academic distinctions, working seniority, foreign language skills and capability of consultants, consultancy tasks, projects' scope and geographical areas where consultants will perform tasks, directors of project management units shall select one of the spending levels for consultants prescribed below and propose managing ministries/localities to approve that level for application. This is a package spending level, including social insurance premium, health insurance premium and taxes in accordance with current regulations:

- Level 1: Between VND 1,600,000 and VND 3,200,000 person/month or a VND amount equivalent to USD 100-200 (depending on the exchange rate at the time of recruitment).

- Level 2: Between VND 4,800,000 and VND 8,000,000/person/month or a VND amount equivalent to USD 300-400 (depending on the exchange rate at the time of recruitment).

- Level 3: Between VND 12,800,000 and VND 19,200,000/person/month or a VND amount equivalent to USD 800-1,200 (depending on the exchange rate at the time of recruitment).

- Level 4: In special cases where the projects need consultants of high professional qualifications or special and particular professions, project management units may propose their managing agencies to decide on a higher remuneration level as agreed upon with consultants.

When the form of package contracts is applied in accordance with the Bidding Law, the aforesaid spending levels for domestic consultants will serve as a basis for the estimation and approval of the contractual value.

Article 7.- Other regular expenses such as expenses for procurement of stationery, repair of vehicles and machines, supplies and petrol in service of professional tasks and communication charges shall comply with annual plans approved by competent authorities, which, however, must be evidenced by lawful documents and not exceed the estimated levels or the deduction levels for project management under current regulations.